Quick Reaction: North Texas 52 Tulsa 20

A thorough beat down of a solid opponent in league play

Your Mean Green are 1-0 in league play. That is the most important number of the many numbers I will recite to you in this quick reaction post. The game is about winning and moreso about winning the league. Everyone is on the way toward that goal a little more than they were at 5pm.

The slow starts are concerning, but it seems like that is something the team will always have to live with in this season, but I do enjoy the ripping off of six straight touchdown drives, part of eight straight scoring drives. That’s seven touchdowns and one field goal after the slow start that included a turnover on downs followed by four punts.

It was not great, but the story was the defense. Matt Caponi’s crew held Tulsa to twelve (12) straight touchdown-less drives. There was the one field goal, six punts, two interceptions (Evan Jackson) and one end-of-half. It was a dominant performance. You can nit-pick the ending when Tulsa added 17 points late in garbage time, avoiding a couple of records for NT but the game was well in-hand.

Let’s go through some impressions:

1. The Defense The Defense The Defense

The drive chart was impressive. Of 15 drives, there were just four scoring drives and three came with the game well in-hand against backups. Through three quarters North Texas dominated the game. Tulsa had just 266 yards of offense, including just 4.2 per play. NT was at 9.6¹ and absolutely dominated the scoreboard. The corners were sitting in a cover three look and conceded some hitch routes early and often, but Tulsa wasn’t able to string enough of those together to put points on the board. Remember that the scoreboard matters more than the box score. There were bright spots all over but Evan Jackson’s two interceptions stood out. This defense — be it three-high or three-four is about getting bodies in space and confusing the offense. Jackson broke on a couple — on was fortunate — and got a couple of turnovers for the good guys.

2. Special Teams

The special teams unit blocked yet another punt and nearly scored. They set up a one-yard touchdown for Wyatt Young. it is the kind of thing that reminded me of the TTU game in which turnovers and splash plays created a gigantic momentum shift. The offense was struggling in a lot of ways and a longer field would have allowed for more penalties. But a one yard distance to goal? Well, NT happily scored there on a Wildcat look.

The punt block unit nearly got one earlier but the punter evaded the block and got it off — only for DT Sheffield to return it and nearly break it one open. The punt return unit was dangerous all game and Nguma hit a field goal and made all his PATs. It was the kind of thing we want to see. Kick returns only happen if you allow a score and punt returns can be situational, but you want to take advantage of the ones you have. Basically you want to get away being neutral in field position or at least not turn it over. NT was positive in this respect and it flipped the momentum.

3. Chandler Morris Was Balling Out With A Hurt Throwing Arm

It is weird to think that the offense struggled while putting up 618 yards of offense but it was so. The slow start is concerning but not worrying. North Texas’s challenge in this game was dealing with the talented Tulsa defensive line and they struggled early. After a few poor possessions (5) they broke out with a Blair Conwright 96-yard touchdown on a little screen. That broke open the game and NT scored on every drive after save for the last couple when they were simply running out the clock.

Chandler Morris put up insane numbers, going 22/34 439 yards and 5 touchdowns for a 221 QB rating. He found a rhythm and hit guys in stride for catch-and-runs. Twelve players caught a pass, and five caught two. Conwright led the yardage gained with 115 but Dalton Carnes caught four and a score.

North Texas threw down field but really made a killing throwing those bubble screens (Arc passes) and quick stuff. DT Sheffield took one to the house on 2nd and goal from the 27. That sort of sums it up. NT scored twice on that possession, but the first was called back. Morris was hurt before throwing his first score when a Tulsa player’s helmet hit his arm. He continued and threw all of his scores after the hit.

There were too many penalties and the running game didn’t get unstuck until late, but North Texas dominated the game in the middle eight period of time. Eric Morris’ offense put up another 600+ yard game, had another 400 yard passer, and a 5-score pass game from his QB. It is the kind of stuff you wanted and even expected. Tulsa’s defense wasn’t amazing by resume, but North Texas only put up 35 last year.

Overall and Next Up

We said that the defense just needed to hold teams to their season average. Tulsa was scoring 29 per game on about 6+ yards per play. That was a little inflated by their win over FCS Northwester St. but it still holds. North Texas held them to 20 points and 4.6 yards per play. Both were under their season averages and a good chunk (about 17 points and 150 yards) were in the 4th quarter when it was all backups. Tulsa was on their 4th QB of the game.

North Texas is 4-1 —just two wins shy of Bowl Eligibility — and 1-0 in conference. The TTU game is the biggest black eye and that will prevent anyone from getting too excited about the record. I suggested that Tech helped North Texas realize the level they needed to reach — in terms of physicality and quality. Since that game they have dominated Wyoming and Tulsa.

The next game is away to Florida Atlantic, a team that has struggled to meet the Lane Kiffen-era standards. Before that is a much-needed Open date that should allow North Texas to work on more 3-4 looks, but also get healthier. Damon Ward, Jeremiah Aaron, Ikaika Ragsdale, Damashja Harris, some linemen, and a couple of defensive backs are all hurting. Morris said this was a little early in the season to be so banged up but acknowledged that this is the nature of the game.

Everyone will get a nice chance to recover and work on things. North Texas is in a great spot heading into the rest of the season and will be able to work on some of the things that looked poor — the penalties, the offensive line, the rush defense against bigger teams or more effective run teams (looking ahead at Memphis, and Army) and just getting everyone healthy and rested.

It is a good day for the Mean Green.

1. NT finished at 10.3 and Tulsa at just 4.6.